Cadet Program Badge on golf Shirt

[Eclipse]

Good Point... I know a lot of educational administration that is very squimish about any sort of organization that is rooted in military bearing.

Then CAP is not for them.  Easy.

GC

Disagree. We need to be adjustable.

Spin again - the dilution of the program to pacify critics is one of the reasons we're in the condition we're in today.

There is no "adjustable" in the program - we are what we are.

Being "flexible" in hiding the military and paramilitary nature of the program(s) just sets up people to quit.

[jb512]

And maybe I'm just naive, coming from a military family, but I've never seen being military as a negative thing.  If someone has issues with that, then there are plenty of other youth programs out there.

[DNall]

I think the operative word is when. 

If, as a senior member, you make initial contact with them in an softer uniform, and get the okay; then you can do the presentation in whichever uniform you like.

The key is knowing your audience and approaching them appropriately.

If you actually do that... approach a principal in golf shirt, soft sell we're this AE based thing that'll bring math & science alive (even if you don't say that you know that's what they're thinking), yada yada... then you show up to do the actual recruiting wearing a real uniform... that's going to be VERY bad for relations.

Prep'ing the field before contact is fine. Establishing incorrect or even deceptive expectations that you fully intend to blow sky high is just bad business.

[RiverAux]

Exactly.  If you think the military side of CAP might be a negative in a particular situation, it is better to approach it head on and deal with it and perhaps change their perceptions. 

[arajca]

Continuing the drift...

The golf shirt is better to get in the door to prepare the ground work with most educators than the hard uniforms. I think the blazer is better than the golf shirt. Part of preparing the ground work is to explain what we wear and why.

[DNall]

I understand that. You don't want to scare the principal right at first, you want to sneak in under the wire & get up close before you put it out there. That may work, but IMO, it's deceitful & leads to bad relations.

The military have golf shirts for recruiters and there are times when you wear those, but it certainly would never be when talking to a school administrator. It's for more like on a weekend when you don't expect to see prospects, or after hours attending a sporting event of one of your prospects.

The cadet program is the MOST military aspect of CAP. Most cadets come in for that aspect of the program, much more so than ES or flying, though they may be drawn to those things after they get tired of marching. I fully believe you need to meet this head on. Many administrators are not comfortable with having military programs recruiting in their schools because we are at war & they don't want their innocent charges brainwashed at a young age into going off & getting killed. You have to address that issue, and not by underselling our program (not the military, not a pathway to the military, etc). The fact is we are related to the military and a very large percentage of the kids we work with do enter military service, in a lot of ways because of what we've done to shape their lives & beliefs. Regardless of intentions, that is true. When talking to scared parents or administrators, you have to deal with those issues with backbone, not by being a slick used car salesman that can be something different to each audience, and has an appropriate costume (uniform) for each of those situations. 

[RiverAux]

Frankly, if you think a particular school administrator might be a "problem", your best bet would probably be to go over their head to the school board (or equivalent) to give them a presentation about CAP and our programs and ask about going into schools under their jurisdiction.  Assuming you're not in San Francisco, this will probably get you access to every school in the district and there won't be much the principal will be able to do about it. 

Come to think of it, this would probably be the best approach whether or not you know you['ve got a anti-military principal to deal with. 

[smitjud]

Forgive me if this has already been mentioned, but a lot of stuff to dig through here.

Wanted to let everyone know that you can order the cadet program specialty badge on the CAP embroidered golf shirt now...

...it just might take a while to receive it.

March 31st (2008), I placed an order with Vanguard for a new embroidered golf shirt (mine is worn out).  Instead of having a drop down menu with all the specialty badges they have availiable, you had to type in your badge, so I typed in Cadet Programs, Senior.  Late the next week one of their reps called me to tell me they were sorry, they don't make that badge, that NHQ had not authorized them to make it but they could make any one of the badges on the long list they proceded to read me (which included about every badge made, except CP it seems).  I told them to go ahead and make me a shirt with the Ground Team Leader badge (even though I don't do much ES these days due to a conflict of interest in my job).

In the meantime, I called NHQ and talked to their Vanguard liasion.  She told me that Vanguard was incorrect and that NHQ had authorized them to make all badges availiable on the shirts.

I called Vanguard back, they told me this was news to them and that they would check on it, but even if it was authorized, it would still take some time (a few months) to digitize and prepare for production, so I stuck with the GTL shirt.

Vanguard then called me back later that day and said that they had verified what I found with NHQ, and would begin on making the CP badge immediately, that it should only take two weeks to digitize and put into production and asked if I wanted to wait a couple weeks for that - I told them definitely.

May 7th (2008),  over a month since my last contact with them, my order was still listed as pending in the system when I logged in to check.  I called them and asked what was up, they told me that I said I would wait for it to be digitized, to which I replied I was aware of but it was only suppossed to be a couple weeks, tops.  They proceded to tell me that they hadn't begun to digitize this yet, and there was no indication on  When they would begin and have this ready for production.  Went ahead and got the GTL shirt - tired of waiting.

Maybe if more people call inquiring about the CP shirt it will put some pressure on them to expedite and I can order the one I really want - which should be a popular design nationwide.

So, a refreshing bit of news.  Apparently the folks at Vanguard actually read this message board.  I talked to them today, they had seen this post, have worked quicky to fix the problem (which turned out to be a corrupted file on the logo), and I'll have my shirt on Monday (with the CP badge). :clap:

[DNall]

good for you. I'm not even saying I wouldn't get something like that. I would just NEVER wear it as a uniform & certainly not to meet with school officials. Now, wearing around or playing golf, yeah that's a much stronger possibility.

[Tubacap]

^not a big fan of golf... I prefer racquetball.

[DNall]

I'm really really bad at both. But golf is a lot better with a cooler of beer. You have to wait till after racket ball for that, and that just makes you a lush.

[Tubacap]

 

[Hawk200]

I'm really really bad at both. But golf is a lot better with a cooler of beer. You have to wait till after racket ball for that, and that just makes you a lush.

Where's the ROTFL smiley when you need it?

[DNall]

See, I don't know if my golf game improves as I progress jointly thru the course & cooler, or if it's just that my ability to keep accurate score decreases. Again, advantage golf. 

[Hawk200]

See, I don't know if my golf game improves as I progress jointly thru the course & cooler, or if it's just that my ability to keep accurate score decreases. Again, advantage golf. 

There's a local radio personality that said he used to drink when he played golf. He said he quit playing golf so that he could be a little more serious about his drinking.

Anyway, back to the original question on the badges: Has Vanguard made it known whether or not all badges will be available? Just curious, as a few people in my unit are interested in the golf shirt, and would like to show off their badges.

[smitjud]

Anyway, back to the original question on the badges: Has Vanguard made it known whether or not all badges will be available? Just curious, as a few people in my unit are interested in the golf shirt, and would like to show off their badges.

According to the Vanguard liasion at NHQ, all badges have been approved for production.  Whether or not vanguard has them ready for production is another case (the CP badge, case in point). 

[Hawk200]

According to the Vanguard liasion at NHQ, all badges have been approved for production.  Whether or not vanguard has them ready for production is another case (the CP badge, case in point). 

Approved I can appreciate, but more concerned about them being in production. Guess time will tell.

[smitjud]

They did have quite a long list of badges that were ready for production when I first tried to order the CP one.  Your best bet is probably to call them up and have them run down the list real quick.

[smitjud]

So, Monday has come and gone and I didn't get my order as they promised.  The odyssey continues....

[RogueLeader]

Don't get mikey started on a weekend.  He must be drunk by now, and you never know when he's going to start using these again:



btw, if anyone can get me one of these for my front lawn, that'd be great.   

You should have asked beofre I left Sill.  I could have towed it to WV, about 45 min from Pittsburgh